CPS Working to Block Adoption of Child by Tutt Family; THSC Still Seeking Transcript

The last week of June there were several hearings in the Tutt case in Dallas. THSC-retained attorneys represented the Tutt family as they sought in one hearing to continue the adoption process of a child who is still in foster care and who is the sibling of two other children already adopted by the Tutts who are back in their home. CPS has said that they are working to prevent the adoption of this child by the Tutts, in spite of no issues raised to support that action.

In another hearing that week the judge ruled that Mrs. Tutt must pay child support to her former husband, with whom the judge placed her teenage son. Mrs. Tutt has still not seen a teenage son who was taken in November and placed with her ex-husband. In spite of the ex-husband defying the court order to have this son attend counseling with a court appointed counselor and Mrs. Tutt, the judge later agreed to allow the father to use a different counselor, who would only comply with the court-ordered counseling if Mrs. Tutt prepaid a $4000 fee for services. Now the judge is requiring Mrs. Tutt to pay child support to her ex-husband for the child, whom the judge has ruled should not have been removed from the home in the first place.

In yet another hearing, Dr. Ronald Johnson gave testimony as an expert witness for the family that it would be in the best interest of these children to be returned to the home schooling of their parents. The judge seemed to accept this testimony but found it necessary to say that the focus on the education of the children “had nothing to do with home schooling,” even though the hearing in December was focused on the alleged lack of education of the children as a justification for CPS to keep the children away from their parents.

The judge reportedly said at the hearing in January, “If your children were in public school and were two years behind, you would be banging on their doors. Well, we are banging on your door.” That statement would certainly undermine her current statement that this situation was “not about home schooling.”

The January statement was reported to us by family and home schooling friends who observed that hearing. We cannot yet corroborate that statement, since we still don’t have a redacted copy of the transcript that Judge Callahan ruled in March we could have. We have paid $2500 for that transcript but still don’t have it. In addition, Judge Callahan ruled that she would not allow the Tutts’ current attorney of record to have the transcript. When the attorney pointed out that she was legally entitled to the transcript, the judge said that she was not the attorney of record at the time and asked why the attorney needed it. The attorney stated that she needed it to file a writ of mandamus with the court of appeals. The judge responded that if the court of appeals told her that she had to give it to the attorney, she would do so. Legal observers are shocked by this action, since any attorney representing a client has a legal right to the court records of the client he or she represents.

In addition, the judge chastised CPS officials for not having the psychiatric evaluations of Mr. and Mrs. Tutt, which she had ordered 60 days earlier. She ordered that the Tutts have an evaluation done by a qualified psychiatrist before the next hearing in August.

Unfortunately, the Tutts are not the only Texas family dealing with such actions by CPS. A recent news article highlighted a hearing in Austin in which another family recounted the egregious actions of CPS workers that devastated their family and their children and destroyed them financially. THSC is committed to continuing to publicize the unlawful actions of CPS workers and judges and to hold them accountable to the fullest extent of the law.

Please continue to pray for justice to be done soon and for the Tutt family to be restored and in full control of their children. Please also pray that they will be able to adopt the child in foster care so she can be with her siblings. If you would like to make a contribution to the legal defense of the Tutt family, you can do that through our Parental Rights Litigation Fund.

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About Tim Lambert

Tim Lambert, president of Texas Home School Coalition (the state home school support organization since 1986), has been involved in home school leadership in Texas since 1984. He and his wife Lyndsay taught their four now-grown children at home for 16 years, graduating the last two in 2000. As the head of the organization for the leading home school state in the country, Tim is recognized as an authority on home education issues in Texas. In this capacity, he has testified before numerous Texas legislative committees on issues related to home schooling. He often deals with state government agencies, including the Texas Education Agency and the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, on home education issues and has served as an expert witness on home education in a number of court cases. He has also addressed such conferences as the Texas Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers on the topic.

Tim holds a B.A. in political science from Texas Tech University and is active in the political arena, having served eight years as Republican National Committeeman for Texas. He is committed to serving the home schooling community and to protecting parents’ right to choose the method of education of their children.

Comments

Thank you, Tim and THSC, for continuing to publicize these kinds of stunning acts against law abiding families in Texas. The doublespeak, covering rather than working to make things right, and straight up illegal actions of our courts and CPS is just staggering in both of these cases. What’s worse is that these are not rare cases, they are just the ones we happen to hear about. There are so many poor and uninformed families out there who are at the mercy of CPS.

Thank you THSC for all that you do. It is shocking that this could be happening in Texas; not Germany, but Texas! The rights of Christians are being attacked by the secular government in all its forms. We as Christians need to get organized.

“If there is a decay of conscience, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the public press lacks moral discernment, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the church is degenerate and worldly, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the world loses its interest in Christianity, the pulpit is responsible for it. If Satan rules in our halls of legislation, the pulpit is responsible for it. If our politics become so corrupt that the very foundations of our government are ready to fall away, the pulpit is responsible for it.”
~ Rev. Charles Finney